A bipod is an attachment, usually to a firearm, that helps support and steady it. Bipods provide significant stability along two axes of motion (side-to-side, and up-and-down). On firearms, bipods are most frequently used on long-barreled weapons such as rifles and machine guns to provide a forward rest and reduce motion. Bipods enable shooters to easily rest their firearm on objects, like the ground or a wall, reducing their fatigue and increasing accuracy and stability. Bipods can also be useful to support the firearm when it is not being fired or is being cleaned. Some bipods have legs of a fixed length, while other bipods have length adjustable legs. Some can be tilted, with their tilting point close to the barrel's central axis, allowing the weapon to tilt left and right. The tilting capability enables the user to compensate for canting of the firearm that would otherwise occur if a shooter is shooting on the side of a hill. Some designs also allow the weapon to pan side-to-side. The legs of the bipod can be folded towards the shooter or away from the shooter when not in use.
Although the numerous conventional bipods with adjustable length legs are generally suitable for their intended use, they suffer from the disadvantages that they can require the manipulation of complex latching mechanisms to deploy the legs and/or to adjust the length of legs. The requirement for the shooter to manipulate complex latching mechanisms to deploy and lengthen the legs requires more time and requires more of the shooter's focus. This may result in the shooter missing an opportunity to shoot a game animal, enemy, or other target.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved bipod that enables the user to rapidly deploy and lengthen the legs. In this regard, the various embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfill at least some of these needs. In this respect, the bipod according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of enabling the user to rapidly deploy and lengthen the legs.